The Dolphin People

A big thank you to Harper Perennial for the opportunity to read and review this novel. The work was originally published in Australia, where author Torsten Krol lives, in 2006; then in Great Britain in 2008. Krol has another novel, Callisto, published in 2007. Most interesting is the statement on the back cover of the book about the author: Torsten Krol is the author of Callisto. Nothing further is known about him. And, after extensive searching on the Web, it seems that this is true. He is reclusive and many believe the author is writing under a pseudonym.

At any rate, I really liked this delightfully interesting novel. The Dolphin People is narrated by Erich Linden who is a sixteen year old who travels with his mother and younger brother Zeppi to Venezuela. Erich's father has died fighting on the side of the Nazis in World War II. Erich's mother will now marry Klaus, her late husband's brother who has fled to Venezuela to avoid prosecution as a Nazi. And this is only the beginning!

After changing their last name, the new family takes a flight to the interior of Venezuela where they will live. Unfortunately the plane crashes and the four must figure out a way to live with the Amazonian tribe they encounter. The family learns the culture of the tribe via another white man, Gerhard, who has lived with the tribe for many years. To save their lives, the family members pretend to be dolphin people, almost gods who had been expected by the tribe. As time passes, the family must do more and more bizarre things to continue the ruse. I will not spoil the fun by telling you the results!

This novel was reviewed by Anis Shivani in the Huffington Post.

TITLE: The Dolphin People
AUTHOR: Torsten Krol
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 356
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this fanciful novel, but really enjoyed the political rhetoric as well.

Displaced Persons

In May, 1945, Pavel Mandl, a Polish Jew recently liberated from a concentration camp, searches for surviving family in the Allied Zones of a crushed Germany. Alone, with no money and no prospects, he trades on the black market to survive. While searching for family members and waiting for a visa to America, he befriends a pair of refugees, Fela and a teenaged boy named Chaim, and soon the trio form a makeshift family. (From the back of the book)

When the war was over and Nazi concentration camps were liberated, survivors were taken to camps for displaced persons where their medical needs were addressed. But Europe, especially Eastern Europe, was in shambles. Survivors searched for family members and, more often than not, found that they alone had survived. The emotional devestation led to years of buried emotions and a feeling of not belonging. Displaced Persons, written by Ghita Schwarz, explores this emotional solitude over decades of survival. Ultimately, the emotions under the surface bubble up and expose feelings unknowingly guiding many decisions.

Pavel Mandl found himself in a British displaced persons camp after the war. He found his place in trading in the black market and joined with two other refugees, living in a small house he took over after the war. Fela, widowed by the war, and Chaim, a teenaged boy, who was willing to work with Pavel in trading in the black market, became each other's family. Ultimately Pavel married Fela and the couple struggled to gather what was needed to immigrate to the United States. They hoped the dream of freedom would erase the pain and struggles they had endured. While the two did make it to New York, they found that the past followed them and while they never discussed their experiences, certainly it was there, between them, between them and the world. Chaim went to Israel where he married Sima. Eventually Chaim and his wife also came to New York and the couples were reunited. Then the world changed.

After the fall of Communism, people wanted to hear about the past. They wanted survivors to speak out about their experiences. Many realized that by discussing their past, they would have to relive them in public. With this private struggle exposed, each survivor tried to find a way to move forward. To see the struggle over forty years and two continents really illuminates how difficult survival was after the war.

To hear the author discuss her novel, visit Book Passage.

TITLE: Displaced Persons
AUTHOR: Ghita Schwarz
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 340
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This is a very thoughtful book. The novel might be especially interesting to students of history who want to follow the post WWII lives of survivors.

Two Little Girls in Blue

I have to admit that the last time I read a Mary Higgins Clark novel it had to have been 1991 with The Cradle Will Fall which scared me half to death - not necessarily the mystery (SUSPENSE) to read when you have four children alone in a house! So, I was rather surprised when my mother gave me two of these NEW mysteries. I read this book sitting next to my mother at the hospital and was desperate when her room was changed and I, with only 20 or so pages left to read, could not find the BOOK! AHHHHH! I found it a few days later exactly where I left it at my desk at work. Thankful sigh!

Two girls in blue - the twin daughters of Margaret and Steve Frawley - are kidnapped. In an interesting twist, we know who took them from the beginning, we just do not know until the end who orchestrated the kidnapping or why really. And believe me, there are plenty of people who had their own reasons to be the ONE. When the girls are separated, special twin communications help to reunite them...but will it be in life or in death?

TITLE: Two Little Girls in Blue
AUTHOR: Mary Higgins Clark

COPYRIGHT: 2006
PAGES: 390
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I love a good mystery and this one was exceptional!

The Outer Banks House

The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme came to me via Crown Publishers, a division of Random House. As the name suggests, the setting is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. And the book is filled with the richness of North Carolina history and scenery. Taking place just after the Civil War, the tensions of the post-war South also play a significant role in the development of the book.

Abigail Sinclair, her parents, and her siblings come to the North Carolina shore with Abigail looking toward her marriage in the near future while her father is hoping to escape a plantation that is faltering with the loss of slave labor. The family quickly, if reluctantly, joins in the rythms of the island. Abby is introduced to the island by Ben who is a young man with deep ties to North Carolina life and history. Abby teaches Ben to read and their temperments clash until Abby realized that Ben has much to teach her as well. While she becomes more involved in the lives of ex-slaves living nearby, Abby's father becomes involved in local attempts to put the ex-slaves back in their place.

Of course, Abby and Ben fall in love, struggle, come apart, and come back together. It is actually this part of the book with which I have the most trouble. Perhaps the book follows the tried and true method of plot build up, conflict, and resolution ~ but I just did not find it to be real. Maybe as someone who lives in the South, I did not like the racial undertones of the conflict for Abby and her family. So I enjoyed the book for the descriptive narrative, but not the human interactions.

TITLE: The Outer Banks House
AUTHOR: Diann Ducharme
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 291
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I did not particularly care for this book. I appreciated what the author was trying to accomplish, but it just did not feel true for me. However, the descriptions of the North Carolina shores were beautiful.

Kasey to the Rescue

Thanks to Library Thing Early Reviewer program and Hyperion for the opportunity to read and review this fascinating family saga. I was so excited to receive Kasey to the Rescue. My husband and I always visited the two small monkeys at our local pet shop. I also love the idea of service animals of any sort.

In this true account, Kasey becomes the service monkey for Ned, a young man who was paralyzed in an auto accident. His mother tells the reader about the accident, her son's recovery in the face of low odds, and how Kasey came into their life as a miracle!

Ned was your typical college student when he was injured in an accident. His mother rushed to his bedside only to hear the words no mother wants to hear - that their child might not make it and will be a quadripilegic if he survives. With a life that was crazy enough to begin with, Ellen Rogers stays with her son through his recuperation and brings him home where he lives in the living room. Recognizing that her son needed assistance and even perhaps a new focus in life, the family explores the Helping Hands program which provides capuchin monkeys for the disabled. This is a remarkable and funny story of the determination of one family to get through tough times with the miracle of a monkey! (I hope you will visit the website above and consider supporting their program).

As a parent, I certainly could identify with Ms. Rogers and her love for her son and her other children shines brightly in this easy to read book. I know the delight of a miracle. My daughter is also a miracle - but from birth. I know the wonder of a life saved. If you don't have time to read this book, try to make time. You can also view a number of interviews and videos online:

Recent interview with Ellen Rogers - at Paw Nation
Kasey to the Rescue website - book website
And even a Facebook page - Kasey to the Rescue

TITLE: Kasey to the Rescue: The Remarkable Story of a Monkey and a Miracle
AUTHOR: Ellen Rogers
COPYRIGHT: November 2010
PAGES: 288
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: If you have a love of animals, you will likely be enchanted by Kasey. If you love the triumph of the human spirit, you will love Ellen, her son Ned and her younger children. Altogether a fascinating story of love and faith and a little helper monkey!

National Non-Fiction Day ~ YEAH!!

I have always loved non-fiction. I like Holocaust narratives, history, memoirs, cookbooks, and just about any how to do it book. When I was a child, my mother said I even read the phone books. So I thought I would do two things today. I am going to write two reviews on non-fiction books I have recently completed and then tell you a little about a non-fiction book I just loaded on the Kindle and am looking forward to reading.

My dear, dear boss JVK brought me an autographed copy of this book. She stood in line at ALA and I am very glad that she did. The idea is how librarians and cybrarians can help in the organization of what has quickly becomed gluts of information.

One of my favorite quotes is early in the book - the author is speaking of the information explosion that came with the Internet: Information and new forms of information were washing over me in oceans and it was fun to splash in the wake. (p. 17) Now that I have read the Internet back and forth ten thousand times, I am nearly done with the splashing.

Here is the best advice found in the book: Just because librarians like to search for author, title, subject the way they used to in the old card catalog doesn't mean the general public does that anymore. The card catalog is dead, people. Move on. (p.41)

TITLE: This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All
AUTHOR: Marilyn Johnson
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 272
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I laughed and laughed ~ I have lived so many of these moments. Never more proud to be a librarian.

For students of Jewish or European history, it is a well known fact that the Hungarian Jews were the last to be sent through the Hitler killing machine that decimated the Jewish population of Europe. In 1944, late in the war that Hitler was slowly losing, Swedish Raoul Wallenberg, educated in America and a world traveler, found himself with the knowledge that the Jews in Budapest were being rounded up and sent to their deaths. He felt that he must try to save as many people as possible and began to do just that.

Using fake protective passports, Wallenberg saved between 30,000 and 100,000 Hungarian Jews. He set up safe houses and managed to move the hunted Jews to safety. In doing so, he put himself in danger. As the Soviets came closer and closer to the Hungarian capital, they became convinced that Wallenberg was a German spy. After the war, Wallenberg was captured by the Soviets and has not been seen since the end of the war.

TITLE: Raoul Wallenberg: The Man Who Stopped Death
AUTHOR: Sharon Linnea
COPYRIGHT: 1993
PAGES: 145
TYPE: non-fiction, Holocaust narrative
RECOMMEND: This book made me sad - although why it should have more than others, I don't know. I think it upset me because a man who saved the lives of others could not be saved.

This is the personal account of Carolyn Jessop's escape from a fundamentalist Mormon polygamous marriage. I have heard her speak about her ordeal, from the time she was married in her early teens to her life after escape. I expect this book to be very interesting. To make it even better, I am going to read it on a Kindle.

TITLE: Escape
AUTHOR: Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer
COPYRIGHT: October 2007
PAGES: 432
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I can't really say yet, since I am only starting the book, but I know I will like the topic. And I have seen very good reviews.

All in all, non-fiction remains my favorite genre. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction and I love it that way!!

Adam & Eve: A Novel

First, I would like to thank William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers for sending me this uncorrected proof. In return, I am providing an unpaid review of the book containing my personal opinions of Naslund's newest novel Adam and Eve. In her two previous novels, Ahab's Wife and Abundance, the author brought a fictional character to life - Ahab's wife (from Moby Dick) and took a real life character - Marie Antionette, into a fictional world. In her latest novel, Naslund wraps her characters around ancient religious symbols and texts - moving from Amsterdam, to Eden (somewhere in the Middle East), to France.


Lucy Bergmann was in Amsterdam when her husband was killed. Shortly before his death Thom, an astrophysicist, had given Lucy his flash drive with the quip that it was the keys to the kingdom. And the kingdom included extraterrestrial life! He could prove it. At this point, I was thinking, oh brother ~ another one of these stories ~ but I persevered! And I loved this book.

The book bounces back and forth in time, but is easy to follow. We meet people who are to help Lucy, like Adam who finds himself adrift from a war he never believed in - adrift in Eden. Alone until Lucy ~ his Eve ~ crashes a plane nearby. Together they look for a case Lucy was carrying ~ holding ancient biblical texts. Lucy and Adam are not the only people searching for them and the two find themselves in the center of a battle between the three main ancient religions.

I was glued to this book from beginning to end. I had to hear what the ancient texts said, I had to follow Adam and Lucy in Eden, I had to know who the bad guys were, and was there a happily ever after? I hope that you will grab this book and spend some time with it. I plan to read it again as soon as I can and check out the author's previous two books as well.

TITLE: Adam & Eve: A Novel
AUTHOR: Sena Jeter Naslund
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 335
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I found this to be a beautiful book that provoked joy and deep thinking about our place in the universe. A perfect blend of mystery, faith, and beauty.

Room

Jack is only five years old.
He lives with his MA in ROOM.
Everything outside the ROOM is pretend.
ROOM is all Jack has ever known.

But one day MA tells Jack that
There is another life outside of ROOM.
MA has lied to him.
But can they leave ROOM?

If they do leave ROOM
How will they live?
Will Old Nick find them,
And take them back to ROOM?

Will MA's family care
Care that they have been in ROOM
Such a long time
Only to finally reappear?

Can Jack and MA escape from Old Nick?
Will the love between MA and Jack sustain them
Outside the ROOM?


Thanks to Little Brown and Company, I had the privilege to read this fascinating book. Five year old Jack is the narrator and author Emma Donoghue has done a magnificent job in giving Jack just the right voice for his age and experiences. One would think this book, limited in range to one small room and two people, would be flat and boring. Instead Ma and Jack's story is a testament to love and ingenuity. With very little to assist her in her efforts, Ma provides Jack with as many "normal" childhood experiences as she can, using what she has, and providing loving care for her son. Still she knows things have to change. And they do! Ma thinks of a way that she and Jack can fool Old Nick and escape Room. Will they succeed and will they find greater happiness? You will have to read the book to find out!

TITLE: Room: A Novel
AUTHOR: Emma Donoghue
COPYRIGHT: September 2010
PAGES: 321
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I loved this book, as a reader, as a mother and as a child. Fantastic novel!

If my recommendation is not enough, Room is on the Man Booker Prize short list! If you have read this one, let me know how you felt about it!

Knit in Comfort: A Novel

Let me begin this review with thanks to LibraryThing and Avon Publishers for providing me with the opportunity to read this book. Knit in Comfort: A Novel by Isabel Sharpe is one of many books published recently which are centered on a group of women who share knitting as a common hobby. I wanted to love this book, and while I found it engaging enough, I only liked it.


The story revolves around two women. Megan Morgan lives a settled life in Comfort, North Carolina with her husband, children, and mother-in-law. She belongs to the knitting club, Purls before Wine which meets weekly. Even though this is the life Megan wanted, she never really seems content. Needing to supplement the family income, Megan rents out the small garage apartment behind the house to Elizabeth Detlaff. Elizabeth lived in New York City with her boyfriend. In a dream, Elizabeth heard her grandmother tell her to go find “comfort” and she believes that is what she has done! She views Megan’s life as blissfully happy until she sees beneath the surface and realized things may not be the way they seem. And isn’t that true of everyone’s life?




The part that made this story a little more interesting was the introduction of Megan’s stories about her ancestors from the Shetland Islands in Scotland. Fiona, Megan’s great-grandmother, knitted beautiful lace that seemed to tell her story. (This little sample of Shetland Island lace is just one of many beautiful examples I located - oh, if only I could tat lace like that!)
In the beginning, I was more focused on this story until I could figure out who was who. The two stories, Megan’s and Fiona’s, seem to flow together over the course of the book just as Megan and Elizabeth’s stories do.



TITLE: Knit in Comfort: A Novel
AUTHOR: Isabel Sharpe
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 320
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was an easy book to read and it kept my attention - bonus twist as you learn family secrets. I didn't love it, but not really my cup of tea.

The Eternal Ones

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Haven Moore. I's seventeen years old and I live in a town called Snope City in eastern Tennessee. As long as I can remember, I've had visions of another life in New York, a city I've never visited.

My name then was Constance, and I was friends with some members of your Society. I believe I was around twenty years old when I died in a fire in the mid-1920s. (p, 101)

Haven Moore wrote the message above to the Ouroboros Society. She and her best friend Beau decided it was time for her to find out about her past lives, especially since her "spells" are becoming more and more frequent. After seeing Constance's lover on television, Haven runs away to New York to find him. The book becomes a mystery, with psychological twists and frantic escapes. The questions Haven must answer are: Who can she trust? Is the past real? and Can she find love and happiness in the future?

I was a little hesitant at first when I began reading this novel. It seemed disjointed with Haven moving back and forth in time, with other names and other people. Gradually, I really liked Haven and Beau and wanted them to find answers. And I wanted the bad people to be punished. In the end, I was satisfied with the outcome and glad that I had read the book. The strength of the book is that Miller is able to make each character, often the same person but different in time, become real and separate. I also liked the flow of the story, from beginning to end.

I visited the author's website and discovered that she is the creator of Kiki Strike, a young heroine in New York City, which has been very popular. I found a very good interview with Miller at Publisher's Weekly online - Q & A with Kirsten Miller. I would like to thank the publisher, Sleuth Razonbill, for sending me this copy of the ARC of The Eternal Ones. In return, I am providing my honest review of the book.

TITLE: The Eternal Ones
AUTHOR: Kirsten Miller
COPYRIGHT: August 2010
PAGES: 411
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: I had a little bit of difficulty getting into this book, but once it got going, I could not put it down. So if you don't like it at first, give it a chance - it will be worth it.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

I don't know what to rave about first, the Kindle 2 (which I have checked out from the library where I work) or Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (the very first book that I read on the Kindle). I am now a huge fan of both and wish that I had known the advantages of both much earlier!

Daniel Pink sets the business world, and our personal interactions, on end. Building on work of various psychologists and economists before him, Pink suggests that internal or intrinsic motivators, provided in the way of autonomy, independence, and freedom for creativity, will garner far more results than extrinsic rewards such as money, awards, etc. This approach has been implemented in many forward looking businesses, such as Google and Tom's Shoes.

Another business where these ideas have made a real difference is the Seattle Pike Place Fish Market. Here is their version:

•EMPOWERMENT - The astounding creativity, productivity and profitability that erupts when leaders are willing to be wholly committed to empowering their employees.
•VISION TO REALITY - Any group of people... anybody... can create a powerful vision and have it happen.
•MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD - making a profound and lasting difference in the quality of life in the world is the true purpose of being in business.

Of course, one part that really engaged me was about how to deal with children. Every parent should read this book. Did you hear me? Every. Parent. Should. Read. This. Book! It could change your child's life. Do you pay for grades, or use a bribe to get chores done? These if you do this, then I will do that rewards can have exactly the opposite effect from what you intended. The section on education really struck a nerve with me.

---too many schools are moving in the wrong direction. They're redoubling their emphasis on routines, right answers, and standardization. (location 3487 on Kindle).

I had four children. Three of them went through the Catholic school system in my town. The fourth (a middle child) went private and public...until he dropped out of school at age 16. He is a smart boy - still is, but he fell through all of the cracks of the public school system. Now all of my children are grown and I work in a Curriculum Materials Library, so I work daily with potential new teachers. It is rather sad. We expect the preservice teachers to be creative, to engage young learners, to teach to individuals. But the reality is that it all boils down to how each child, and therefore, each school does on the standardized FCAT test given yearly in the Spring. The scores already determine schools' standings in the county. Officials tried to tie it to teacher compensation (WHAT?), but that failed when put to a vote. So, we are teaching our children how to take that test, give the same correct answers. We are not teaching them how to THINK! And according to Pink, we are sapping out their internal motivation...something we are all born with and systematically lose as we get older, unless we are left to develop our own internal reward system. Sorry about the little diatribe, but it annoys me to no end. How is education "monitored" in your state or country?

Check out the author's webpage and what people are saying about Drive.

Oh goodness, I absolutely love the Kindle. I am a huge fan of the written word - rather words written on paper...well, more specifically words typed on paper and bound in the form of books. But I did dearly love the Kindle experience. It is so light, the type is clear, it was easy to navigate. And oh so many more wonders! If you are like I was, a doubter, do try one. See if your local or academic library has them for checkout...please do not come to my library to get one because then I will have to give this one up and I do so want to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and The Hunger Games!!

TITLE: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
AUTHOR: Daniel Pink
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: who knows, it was on KINDLE!
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I really liked this book. It put some new ideas into my brain and reminded me about one of my favorite management philosophies at the Seattle Fish Market.

Life in Biblical Israel

For those of you who read my blog, it will be no surprise to you that I have an interest in Israel and Jewish history. My undergraduate and graduate degrees are both in history, and I also have a MLS in Library Science. So history and reading are central to who I am and the types of things I like to read - in addition to fiction, of course. I maintain a separate blog for Holocaust Resources for K-12 young people.

I am always looking for ways to self-educate on these topics. One great place is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MIT OpenCourseWare with free access to over 2000 different college level courses. I am slowly working though the readings for the course: Jews from Biblical to Modern Times.

This book is a fascinating look at the domestic, economic, political, cultural, and religious life of the Israelites dating back to the eight century B.C.E. The archaeological records are matched to biblical verses creating a very interesting journey through Biblical history. In particular, I loved the domestic and cultural sections. Life centered around the home, which in many cases was a three-leveled pillared house. The ground level served as a manger for the animals owned by the family. The animals were taken out to pasture daily and the ground floor was cleaned. The head of the household and immediate family slept on the second level. The third level, or roof level, was used for outdoor family activities. Often a number of houses were found together in a family compound.

TITLE: Life in Biblical Israel
AUTHOR: Philip King and Lawrence Stager
COPYRIGHT: 2001
PAGES: 412
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: For an academic text written by historians, this book was very readable and interesting. I am very glad that I was led to it.
SERIES: Library of Ancient Israel

Don't Look Back

Author Karin Fossum has come to be known as the Norwegian Queen of Crime! Don't Look Back is one book in her Inspector Konrad Sejer series - all are criminal detective novels and had I realized her claim to fame, I would have begun my adventures with Inspector Sejer by reading the first in the series, Eve's Eye. (Of course there is the small problem that it is not yet published in English)! I read Don't Look Back as my final book for the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 hosted by The Black Sheep Dances. If you would like to participate, visit her blog.



Ragnhild Album lives in a small village in Norway nestled beneath the Kollen Mountains. On a normal day in this average village, Ragnhild goes missing. Joined by the local police captain, Inspector Sejer is sent to help find the very young girl. Just as suddenly as she vanished, Ragnhild returns. Relieved, the two policemen returned to the station only to receive a phone call from Mrs. Album - Ragnhild saw a girl by the lake, a girl who was naked and not moving at all. So begins the real mystery. Who killed Annie Holland?

Fossum takes the reader on a wild ride - visiting everyone in the small village - characters that leap off the page; surely you know someone just like each one of them. Inspector Sejer, assisted by his younger assistant Jacob Skarre, seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to investigating. But his talent is in getting the villagers to share the secrets they have hidden from their neighbors who thought they knew everything about everyone. But it seems Annie was one of the few who knew things that fermented just below the surface of the town's apparent normalcy. Getting to know who Annie had been before she was murdered, Sejer finds hints of teenage angst, a girl who turned surly almost overnight, abuse, and love. Annie's boyfriend Halvor knew that Annie kept a diary on the computer in his room and he also knew that if he could figure out the password he could help solve the murder. Or was he trying to hide what he knew? Just as I thought I had it all figured out, the answer changed. And that is, of course, the mark of a good detective novel.

Here are links to my other five reviews for the Scandinavian Challenge:

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
The Beatles by Lars Saabye Christensen

I am thankful that the Stieg Larsson books were so popular here in the US. Without them, and the Black Sheep Dances Challenge, I probably would not have been introduced to these wonderful authors and books.

TITLE: Don't Look Back
AUTHOR: Karin Fossum
TRANSLATOR: Felicity David
COPYRIGHT: 2002 (English translation), original 2002
PAGES: 295
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was a book for a thinking person - not a thriller, but a slowly building criminal investigation. I enjoyed it.
AWARDS: Riverton Prize, 1996; Glass Key Award, 1997

Think of a Number

Before I get to my review of Think of a Number by John Verdon, I would like to talk a little about my early reading habits. At a fairly young age, probably before I even understood that Donna Parker was "in Love" with the blonde sitting across the booth from her at the soda shop, I read all of the Donna Parker books. Then I moved on to Nancy Drew mysteries - all of them in rapid succession. I hope that some of you remember these series, if not, check them out! They were great!










Then my mother started collecting the Perry Mason mysteries by Earle Stanley Gardner. I read them all...for years. I developed a selective memory, forgetting who the murderer was, so that I could read them all again. The story lines were very formulaic. Mr. Mason, Paul Drake the detective, and Della Street the secretary always worked out the crime - usually when Mr. Mason was interrogating the witness on the stand. I loved them. Four children and a lifetime or two later, Think of a Number is the first murder mystery that I have read in quite some time. And. I. Loved. It!





Dave Guerney and his wife Madeline are trying to adjust to two things - the first is that Dave has just retired from the NYPD as a star homicide detective and the second is grief surrounding the death of their son years ago. But something interrupts the quiet life they are seeking. Mark, a college acquaintance of Dave's, contacts him about strange letters he has received. The first letter suggested that the writer knew Mark well enough to know what number between 1-1000 he would select - and he did know. The letter writer wanted money, then sent more letters:

How many bright angels

can dance on a pin?

How many hopes drown in

a bottle of gin?

Did the thought ever come

that your glass was a gun

and one day you'd wonder,

God, what have I done?

The rhymes continue to arrive - until Mark is murdered. Then no matter how hard Dave, and especially Madeline, try to stay objective about the clues and the new entanglements of the case, Dave is asked to serve as a consultant for what becomes the search for a serial murderer. Because people all over the state of New York are being found murdered with these strange messages in their homes. The story has many twists and turns and every time I thought I knew what was happening, I found I was wrong! As I neared the end, I could not go to bed until I finished the book - which is a true testament to a thriller.

I would like to thank Crown Publishers for providing me with the uncorrected proof of Think of a Number. While it was not required of me, I like to provide an honest review of ARC books (and I am not compensated in any way). If you want to join in the fun of the book, visit Crown Publishers and think of a number !!

TITLE: Think of a Number
AUTHOR: John Verdon
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 418
TYPE: fiction, mystery
RECOMMEND: I must admit that after years of not reading a good mystery, I really enjoyed this book.

Hidden on the Mountain

Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle write children's books. In 2002 the pair took at trip to France where they visited a small museum in the south of France. This visit would result in years of research and personal interviews during which Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon was born. I am finding it very difficult to review this important book because each chapter, which contains the story of one child, could be, and also has been, written as a book unto itself. As an avid reader of Holocaust memoirs, I must confess that I had never heard of this refuge for Jewish children. The authors confirm that no children's book has ever been written on this topic.

To assist others who might not be aware of this small area of France, I would like to spend some time on the third chapter entitled "An Isolated Haven: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and La Montagne Protestante" before going on to the meat of the book. The geographic area in question is an isolated mountain plateau in South-central France. Hundreds of years before the Second World War, this area had been a hiding place and refuge for French Huguenots who were persecuted by French Catholics. Ancestors of these Protestants still lived in this area and had a special understanding of the hardships of religious persecution. Fiercely independent, the Huguenot Protestants had a strong sense of right and wrong. They valued their own freedom and respected the freedom of others. They were modest and humble. They beoieved in tolerance and in sharing what they had with others. Every day they read the Bible. and they were committed to living their lives according to what they read. They didn't blindly accept the authority of the government if it contradicted their religious beliefs. (p. 12). After the Germans overtook France, the country was divided into occupied France and unoccupied France which, under the Vichy government, collaborated with the Nazis. In both areas of the country, Jews were rounded up and sent to holding camps and then on to their deaths. And so these often poor farmers and villagers were ready to hide Jews, especially young children, in their homes until they could be relocated to Switzerland or until the war was over. This entire French community of Le Chambon cooperated to keep these children safe, with some offering warnings if a round-up was coming so that the children could be hidden high in the mountains for a day. Today, this beautiful story has been told by one of the Jewish children who was born there - Pierre Sauvage made the documentary film Weapons of the Spirit (the name comes from a speech by Protestant pastor Andre Trocme who urged the parishoners to stand up against injustice in non-violent ways, using "weapons of the spirit" (p. 14)).

And stand up they did, with several thousand children hidden in these mountains. DeSaix and Ruelle interviewed many of these survivors and include their stories as first person narratives in the book. To provide a broader picture of the area and the times, the authors also include chapters, written in third person, of non-Jewish people who lived in the area or helped the children in some special way (many of whom were no longer alive). Each child's story jumps from the pages, with memories often in conflict with that of another child who lived in the mountains during the same time. The authors observe that both memories are correct. Some of the children traveled across countries to arrive in this haven. They traveled without parents or friends. Some came from the nearby camp at Gurs. One thing they all found in Le Chambon was a sense of normalcy - schools, hard work, fun, friendships that continue to this day. What amazing bravery of both the children and their protectors. These stories gave me hope that within us all we have weapons of the spirit and are capable of standing up for what is right.

The history of the area and war, along with the individual histories and memories of the children are enhanced by photographs of the children in their daily activities, maps, a glossary, timeline, and recommended readings. To learn more about this topic, visit The Chambon Foundation and the authors' website for the book.

This review is crossposted at Holocaust Resources which is my blog for Holocaust materials for children and young adults.

TITLE: Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon
AUTHOR: Deborah DeSaix and Karen Ruelle
COPYRIGHT: 2007
PAGES: 275
TYPE: non-fiction
RECOMMEND: I thought this was a hopeful book - people did what they needed to do to save the lives of these children.

Dolphins and reincarnation

As some of you may know, I work in a Curriculum Materials Library at a University. Our collection is K-12 materials for our preservice teachers to use with their students. So you might wonder what that has to do with dolphins and reincarnation??

When I have any spare time I read some of our books that are on display so that I can assist students in finding just the right book for their lesson plans. This last month we have had displays on the ocean - always thinking about the oil spill in the Gulf.

So today I read the book Amazing Dolphins by Sarah L. Thomson and it was wonderful to consider all the facts about dolphins that make them such special mammals. The book is a HarperCollins I Can Read! book which is considered a book that can be read with help and is defined as a book with "Engaging stories, longer sentences, and language play for developing readers." The I Can Read! books have been used with children since 1957 - which means I might have even owned one myself!!

As you can see by the cover, this particular book was written with the assistance of the Wildlife Conservation Society. A great deal of factual information is provided for our young readers and I would like to share a few lines with you:

Dolphins in a school help each other. If one is hurt and can't swim, other dolphins may lift it to the water's surface so it can breathe. (p. 19)

Dolphins like to touch and pat each other with their fins. They rub against each other. They may swim side by side with their fins touching as if they are holding hands. (p. 20)

Grown-up dolphins like to play too. (p. 22)

I am going to run right out and purchase a copy of this book for my two grandsons. They are going into first grade and Kindergarten next year and I want them to know how important it is to think about the beauty of the dolphin. And Lord, if I am going to be reincarnated as something, please let it be a dolphin. One more request, please put me somewhere other than the Gulf of Mexico because even though I don't expect to die any time soon, I am pretty sure that the Gulf still won't be safe for me by then. Until then, I will still visit the ocean to try to see the dolphins and smile that at least a few are still healthy and in the Gulf with those of us who grew up with them.

Beatles

Beatles by Lars Saabye Christensen was a delightful stroll through the Beatlemania of my youth. Each chapter of the novel is the title of a Beatles album or song and I did not have to try hard to transport back to that year in my life. It was fascinating to view the same time period from a Norwegian perspective. To make the novel even more interesting the perspective was male.

The novel follows four young Norwegian boys from 1965 until 1972. As you might imagine, Kim (our narrator) and his friends Gunnar, Ola, and Seb are obsessed with the Beatles. I was as well during the 1960s! In fact Kim and his friends thought of themselves as the Beatles. They dreamed of starting their own band which would be named the SNAFUs. But, as with many dreams, life got in the way. The four friends changed from boys to men. They smoked, drank, played, fought, fell in and out of love, made a mess of things, and put things straight. We were introduced to their parents, other friends, rivals, girlfriends, and teachers. These boys felt like family. Close family!

I think this is one reason I loved the book so much - reading it felt like being admitted into a secret club, one usually closed to girls. Growing up, I had only one younger sister. Each summer, we went to stay with family in Tennessee. I loved staying with my three males cousins who lived out in the country. They teased me unmercifully as the city girl lost in the country. And we had some fun capers, and like the characters in the novel, more often than not got caught. Still some parts of my cousins' though processes were closed to me. I wasn't quite a member of the club!

Another idea which was prevelant in the novel was the protest against America in VietNam. I lived both sides of the same protest in the United States. I was told that the Communists were going to come take over our country if we did not defeat them in VietNam. When friends died, I wasn't sure that I cared about the Communists anymore. The distaste for what was viewed as American imperialism is palpable in the novel. Somewhat reminds me of the world response to our invasion of Iraq. We may never learn.

The author was born in Oslo in 1953, the same year I was born. He began writing Beatles when he was 25 years old. It is interesting that in 2006 readers in Norway voted this book the best Norwegian novel of the last 25 years.
I found an interesting anecdote about the book in an August 2009 review by Tone Sutterud found in the British The Independent:

Unbelievably, Beatles was almost lost to the world. Having written the entire tome by hand, Saabye Christensen thought it might interest his old schoolmates at most, and carelessly stuffed the script in a suitcase travelling from France. The suitcase got lost, but found its way back to Oslo after a two-week European round trip that took in London. "Which was only right and fitting," the author says. "Now the book has come home, so to speak."

TITLE: Beatles
AUTHOR: Lars Saabye Christensen
TRANSLATOR: Don Bartlett
COPYRIGHT: 2009 (English translation), original 1984
PAGES: 534
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was a book that I did not want to end. The characters were so well defined, that I felt they were people I knew. I have seen one reference to two books which have already been written and are untranslated sequels to this book, so maybe I will get my chance to catch up with this fab four! Interesting to see the comparison between times here and in Norway.

Growth of the Soil

Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun and translated by W. W. Worster is an excellent and thoughtful book I read for the Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2010 hosted by The Black Sheep Dances. If you would like to participate, visit her blog.

First a bit about the author. Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 for this book. The review on the Nobel Prize website made sense to me -





Hamsun's work is determined by a deep aversion to civilization and the belief that man's only fulfilment lies with the soil. This primitivism (and its concomitant distrust of all things modern) found its fullest expression in Hamsun's masterpiece Markens Grøde (1917) [Growth of the Soil].

Which leads me to my review of the book. First, I should explain that it has always been a standard silliness at my house that my goal in life is to be a Slovak peasant (and I say that with a sincerity that might be difficult for some to believe or understand, but I think of it as a simple life unencumbered by the rush of daily life here). There would be hard work to be sure, but also a sense of accomplishment in living by one's own hands. So, you can only imagine my delight with this novel.

In the beginning, Isak starts out in the wilderness seeking a place to build a home and till the soil. He is alone and seeks a wife to help him. After some time, Inger comes to him and agrees to be his wife. She was born with a harelip and could not have hoped for a better situation. The two live a long way from a town and together they make improvements to the land and have children. But life is hard in Norway at the turn of the century, especially in the wilderness when a man and woman must work very hard. And things can change very quickly. Things change dramatically when Inger gives birth to a daughter who has a harelip and Inger kills her. She goes to jail leaving Isak and his younger son to take care of the land. The older son has gone to town and is too sophisticated to come back to the farm. While she is gone Inger has surgery to repair her harelip and she returns a little different causing even more disconcerting scenes on the farm. There are other characters who come in and out of the story, but this is Isak and Inger's story of building a life on the frontier in Norway in the early 1900s. I absolutely fell in love with this family.

Just as an aside, there was a small focus on women's issues in this book. Did a woman have to give birth to a baby just because a man got her pregnant? Should the woman be punished if she killed an unwanted, or even disfigured, newborn? How was the man punished?

I find it interesting that it is possible to read this novel online. Click here for the book and an essay by Worster.

TITLE: Growth of the Soil
AUTHOR: Knut Hamsun
TRANSLATOR: W. W. Worster
COPYRIGHT: 2006 (English translation), original 1917
PAGES: 435
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was a phenomenal story of a family and the people they knew in the wilderness of Norway. I really enjoyed getting to know and understand the people who worked hard to bring a home into the wilderness and deal with civilization as it came nearer to them.
AWARDS: Nobel Prize for Literature (1920)

What I Loved

For me, the mark of a great book is one that, while I am reading it, I say to myself "This is the best book I have ever read." Now granted I am prone to saying that with some frequency, but for me, What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt was just such a book. I loved every part of it - the mundane, the excitement, the familiar, the unknown, the art, the critic, the loneliness, the camraderie. This book has everything and then some. The focus is clear as we have a single narrator who leads us through his twenty-five year friendships in New York's art world. Before I delve any further into the plot, let me tell you a bit about the author.

Although Siri Hustvedt was born in Minnesota, her early life was steeped in Norwegian culture. Her mother had moved from Norway the year before she was born and her father was third generation Norwegian American. Siri's first language was Norwegian and she had her first visit to Norway at the age of five. Her father was recognized for his work with the Norwegian American society and taught the language and literature at a local college. Siri spent her last year of high school in Norway and graduated there. Her novels have been translated in twenty-nine languages. Visit her website for more information about her other works.

Now on to my review of What I Loved. The sole narrator of the novel is Leo Hertzberg who is a middle-aged art historian who teaches at a New York college. Through his memories we meet the other major characters. Because we come to know them through Leo, the novel is character driven with our opinions spinning out from Leo's encounters. Initially we meet Leo's wife Erica who is a writer. Leo's life changes when he purchases a painting by Bill Weschler. Leo befriends the artist, Bill's first wife Lucille, and his second wife Violet - the woman in the art Leo purchased. The two families bond and the novel recounts their intertwined lives for twenty-five years. With Leo, we struggle with what is real and what is really only remembered - altered for psychological reasons unknown even to ourselves. We witness joys and sorrows, loves and betrayals.

My favorite parts of the book however were the descriptions of Bill's art work, especially as they came from an art historian and critic (and beloved friend). Further, Bill's work was influenced heavily by Violet's research - first on hysteria in women in past centuries and second on eating disorders of both men and women. One art exhibit was a series of doors which actually opened into variously sized rooms containing multi-media art scences. One scene showed Holocaust victims starving to death. The descriptions were fascinating and needed to be read slowly to take in all they had to offer.

As you see, this novel provides the reader with multiple levels of scrutiny. There is the physical, the art, the psychological, and even the meta-physical. I plan to read the novel again and again. My favorite passage is near the end of the book:

Every story we tell about ourselves can only be told in the past tense. It winds backward from where we now stand, no longer the actors in the story but its spectators who have chosen to speak. (p. 364)

TITLE: What I Loved
AUTHOR: Siri Hustvedt
COPYRIGHT: 2003
PAGES: 367
TYPE: fiction
RECOMMEND: This was a deep and expansive novel. The stories and remembrances will remain with me for some time and I will return to Leo's story again and again.
AWARDS: New York Times Notable Books of the Year (WON AWARD) 2003
Galaxy British Book Awards (NOMINATED FOR AN AWARD) 2004
Orange Prize for Fiction (NOMINATED FOR AN AWARD) 2003

Dragon Tattoo and Played with Fire

I read this book, the first in a trilogy by deceased author Stieg Larsson, and while the opinions were varied at the book club meeting, I loved this page-turning adventure. Many did not like the violence, but I felt it served a purpose in exposing violence against women. And at times, it was personally satisfying - when you read it, you will understand - let's just say someone had it coming!

In particular, I fell in love with computer hacker, bad girl, Lisabeth Salander ,who is one of two main characters. She is unique and has a nasty past as a ward of the state. She is on her own now and teams up with Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist who has been sued for slander. Together they solve a decades old murder mystery under extreme conditions. Blomkvist brings out the best in Salander, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.

There are other supporting characters who are equally intriguing. When I finished the book, I could not wait to read the second book in the trilogy.

TITLE: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
AUTHOR: Stieg Larsson
TRANSLATOR: Reg Keeland
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 608
TYPE: Scandinavian ficton, crime
RECOMMEND: I loved it.

Althought this second book had a different feel to it, Ther Girl who Played with Fire, was excellent in its own way. What I liked the best was slowly learning more about Lisbeth Salander. She has been hiding out and spending her secret stash of money for two years since she worked with Blomkvist. But three murders finds her before Blomkvist and she is implicated.

While the first book in the Millenium Trilogy focused on the abuse of women, this book seems to take an indepth look at the sex trade and how women are caught up in this nightmare. Perhaps Salander has too much information. I know that I could not stop reading until the duo figured it out. Sadly, the end of the book finds Salander almost dead with Blomkvist hoping he found her soon enough to save her. I cannot wait until I can run out and get the final book.

TITLE: The Girl who Played with Fire
AUTHOR: Stieg Larsson
TRANSLATOR: Reg Keeland
COPYRIGHT: 2010
PAGES: 630
TYPE: Scandinavian fiction
RECOMMENDATION: I loved it too!